


Survival Gleams Golden on the Crossroads

by rulerofthepotatoes



Series: What Has Become of Us, We Sinners, Saints, and Those In-between [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Demon Bela Talbot, Episode: s03e15 Time Is On My Side, Gen, Hell, Hell Trauma, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 12:21:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30089028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rulerofthepotatoes/pseuds/rulerofthepotatoes
Summary: Bela Talbot, after her deal comes due.
Series: What Has Become of Us, We Sinners, Saints, and Those In-between [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2153601
Kudos: 1





	Survival Gleams Golden on the Crossroads

Bela Talbot dies with tears on her face, alone in a hotel room and resigned to the baying of hellhounds. She wakes on the rack, deep in Hell. 

The pain she endures is endless and indescribable. The demons claw and bite and tear at her flesh each day until she is made whole again and the cycle starts anew. It is endless and red and bloody. There is no reprieve. 

She regrets not asking for Dean and Sam’s help earlier, but she does not regret the deal she made. Her parents deserved to die; she needed to be free of them. She just wishes the cost hadn’t been so high. 

* * *

Eventually, long after she has lost track of both time and the count of the amount of times her flesh has been peeled from her bones only to be made whole again, she is made an offer. 

The demon that approaches her is not one she knows the name of, but he says he works for Crowley, and that the offer comes from him. It’s a simple offer: step off the rack, become a demon, and work for him at the crossroads. 

Bela has always been resourceful; she is a survivor above all else. She accepts. 

* * *

With a bit of magic, the body she was born in is remade and once again her own. 

She possesses an inconspicuous yet strong young man so that she can raid her own grave and dig up her body. 

Topside, she hasn’t been dead long enough for her body to decompose to the state she needs it to be in for the spell she plans to use. Other than some obscure ingredients she was already able to procure, all she needs for the spell is her original bones. She takes her own original body, and boils away the remaining flesh and sinew. It is gruesome work, but she has endured Hell and the rack. Such a spell is nothing to despair over, after that. 

Doing this will both give her back her original body and remove the potential threat of someone trying to kill her in the future by torching her bones. She does what she needs to do in order to complete the ritual, and soon her original body is once again her own. 

* * *

She works the crossroads for some time, and eventually moves up higher in the ranks of Hell. She makes sure to establish herself as someone not to be trifled with, but keeps her name mostly to herself. 

At present, she has no desire to make any kind of bid for true power. Perhaps she will eventually, but for now, she is content to continue as she is. She does not take orders from just anyone, but she ensures that she makes few enemies she cannot readily dispose of on her own. 

Life as a demon is not without its trials, but Bela does well enough and makes due.

* * *

Bela never does see the Winchesters again, but she does hear about them and makes sure to keep track of their lives as the years go on. 

She knows Crowley has developed a strange relationship with them, and she’s confident the boys wouldn’t go out of their way to kill her if she sought them out so long as she never gave them a reason to, but she stays away for the time being. 

She makes a point to keep up to date with their changing numbers at the very least and their location when she can. She didn’t reach out to them and ask for their help before, and because of that, a hellhound was able to drag her to Hell. She hasn’t needed them yet, but she knows better now to reach out to them if she does in the future. There’s no guarantee they’ll help of course, but she’s always maintained that it’s better to be prepared, just in case. 

Bela’s a survivor, and though she'll always rely on herself first and foremost in all things, she also now knows that if she's ever in a bind, it's just common sense to bet on those boys every time.


End file.
